Evangeline claimed she was tired from dancing and gently suggested Gabriel take his leave. Having no excuse to remain at the Rohanson mansion any longer, they parted ways with an uneasy residue still lingering. This time, Evangeline did not offer her hand.
It felt strangely like walking atop a swamp. His footsteps were particularly heavy. Every few steps, he turned back to look at the Rohanson mansion. But the curtains were drawn tight, and the interior remained hidden.
"Are you leaving?"
Because he had lingered unusually long, he encountered Kanna, who was taking a walk in the garden. In her arms was the cat he had seen at the orphanage before.
The cat that had been frolicking in Gabriel's arms was nowhere to be seen, and now it did not so much as acknowledge him. Cats were fickle creatures by nature, so Gabriel soon lost interest.
"Kanna, it has been a while."
Gabriel maintained his composure and greeted her with proper etiquette.
He had been adept at showing a calm face regardless of his inner turmoil since childhood.
The red flower that Evangeline Rohanson had plucked and transplanted into a glass vessel trembled its leaves shyly. Gabriel knew well that flower could only breathe inside its master's coffin.
"Did you see?"
Instead of a greeting, an unexpected question returned. Though the subject was omitted, he understood what it meant.
"You saw the Miss, didn't you?"
Kanna was the only person in this mansion who called Evangeline "Miss." If the Evangeline of the past was everyone's young lady, Kanna's Miss was unique.
Likewise, those who could properly see these things in the mansion were only the two monsters and Kanna. Hena, with the eyes Pudding had given her, only saw them occasionally, and the same was true for Daisy. Sometimes, on a whim, the servants would witness what Kanna saw. How terrified they were each time.
Daisy was the same. After Daisy had driven a wedge between Hena and Kanna, Kanna had disliked Daisy. When she heard that Daisy had fled in fear at the mere sight of a snowball, she had nearly laughed out loud.
Of course, now that her sister and Daisy were on good terms, she could understand well enough. For a faint-hearted person, such sights were certainly nauseating.
Was this seemingly steadfast knight also nauseated? His face was peculiarly pale, as if he had been frightened.
"Sir Gabriel. If you wish to love the Miss, you must endure. You must love even these things."
Kanna was pleased to find an unexpected kindred spirit. So she offered her advice without reservation. Though the cat in her arms flailed its paws as if to stop her, as a senior, she could at least offer some guidance.
Pudding really did have a terrible personality. In the first place, those things were byproducts of the cat attempting to establish its territory. The cat liked the Miss and tested Gabriel, who had begun showing interest in her. Unless he could accept even the facet the cat had shown, he could not handle the Miss. And the result was this—the cat's disappointment.
"If you endure, you can be loved. You are envious of me, after all."
"Envious? Me?"
Gabriel might deny it, but Kanna remembered that moment clearly.
The look in his eyes as he watched Kanna receiving the Miss's protection on his first visit to the Great Temple. That was a gaze of longing from someone deprived. Proof of jealousy.
In Kanna's view, Gabriel was a man thirsting. He had passed by wells because they could not quench his thirst, had ignored even rivers, but what if he met the sea?
He would think drowning after jumping in immediately was happiness. Even if the saltwater made him cough and stung his eyes, he would not mind at all. Rather, he would think he was submerged in sugar.
"You already know from Daisy that the Miss is not an ordinary human, don't you?"
The documents containing Daisy's accusations against Evangeline had been entrusted to Kanna, so Kanna knew their contents in full detail. She had destroyed them to prevent anyone from seeing, but when the Miss asked for the documents again, her heart had sunk.
"Knowing that, why were you so frightened just from seeing it?"
Kanna asked, genuinely puzzled. She meant she could not understand Gabriel's lukewarm attitude. Gabriel averted his eyes and swallowed his answer. Contrary to Kanna's thinking, Gabriel had not been frightened by what the cat had shown him. The crimson-filled scene had induced nausea rather than fear.
"Did you think the Miss was some kind of angel with wings? So you're disappointed because she's different from what you imagined?"
As she said, Gabriel was frightened because of Evangeline. He feared that because Evangeline was not in the mirror, she might be an illusion that did not exist. The low body temperature against his skin, the faintly beating heart, all seemed meaningless. It seemed as if Evangeline had truly become a corpse. He remembered his young days running with a dead child on his back.
"I see. I suppose I already knew but couldn't accept it."
As the priest who had overseen the funeral and Daisy had said, Evangeline Rohanson was indeed a dead person. Yet Gabriel wanted to treat Evangeline like a living person.
Was that why Evangeline had become angry? Because he showed interest without even properly recognizing who she was?
"It is late, so I will take my leave. Thank you for your advice."
Having nothing more to say to Kanna, Gabriel offered a silent bow and departed. Unlike before, his steps were very quick.
"If you run away, that's fine with me."
Kanna murmured, watching his retreating figure. The cat clicked its tongue in disapproval.
If Gabriel could not overcome this trial, then Kanna would be the only human on earth who loved the Miss completely. If she could have her all to herself, she would be overjoyed. Yet on the other hand, she hoped the things the Miss cherished would increase.
The wind blew and flower petals fluttered. Kanna enjoyed the brilliant scene as cherry blossom petals fell as if they were eyes themselves.
"It is spring."
The time was June, already past spring. It is a summer night when the cherry blossoms, said to have been planted by the late Countess Rohanson, the pride of the Rohanson Earl's house, still bloom beautifully without falling.